Today’s ornament for 30 Days of DIY Designer Ornaments is swirling in texture and earthy goodness. If you are doing up your tree with wired-on pinecones, nuts-in-the-shell, strung cranberries and clipped-on bird ornaments, here’s the perfect complement.

It’s truly a snap to create, and a fantastic way to recycle tired, old ornament balls. Let’s
get wrappin’….

Materials and Tools:

Glass ornament balls – new or (better yet) used glass ornaments
that have seen better days

Roll of natural jute twine (I got mine at the local hardware store)

Tacky craft glue

Brush for applying glue

Scissors

Instructions:

Making these ornaments is so simple, it really doesn’t warrant step-by-step instructions. Working from the top of the ornament down, what you do is brush the ornament with glue (an inch or two at a time). Then snugly swirl on a wrapping of jute. Snip and glue on the end at the bottom.

Don’t you just love crafting paper snowflakes? The surprise-factor of revealing the design always gets me. But I don’t like their temporary nature. Our flakes rarely survive the taping, kid tugging and kitten swatting, to become part of next year’s decor. I wondered how I could create a more lasting “paper” snowflake.

The solution? Pre-primed artist canvas sheets, sold in a pad at the art supply store. And while you can certainly leave your snowflakes naked white, this colorholic had to wash ours in cool, winter hues.

There’s a cold front moving in. Let’s create a flurry…

Materials and Tools:

Pad of pre-primed artist canvas sheets

Acrylic Paints

Foam brushes

Heavy-duty fabric shears

Instructions:1.Plan and paint your design. I brushed on watery strokes of acrylic paints in cool blues and purples. Choose a color and design that makes you happy – wouldn’t polka dots be fun??? What would you choose?

Leave plenty of white canvas showing, so the snowflakes will still sparkle in the light. And one word to the wise: Avoid yellow snow. ‘Nuff said.

2. Now go off and bake some cookies (or reality check – do the laundry) and let your canvases dry thoroughly.

3. Next, make your canvases square and a good snowflake size. My sheets were 9″ x 12″; I folded and cut them in half, then I brought up the short edge and made a diagonal fold to form a square. I trimmed the excess (see photos).

4. Now you’ll fold your canvas for snowflake cutting. LOTS of good info. on this online, so I won’t recreate the wheel. Here are a couple sites I found helpful:

Note: Canvas is thicker than paper, so crease and fold the canvas well, and hold the folds tight together when you cut. Using the heavy-duty fabric shears, cut out the snowflake pattern to your liking. It’s not the easiest to cut, but take your time cutting and removing each section, and you’ll triumph. An adult should do this step (the tradeoff for a lasting snowflake) – so I suggest putting the kids in charge of choosing the design.

5. Ta-Da! All done. Now flake out your tree, mantel, walls – wherever! These would be lovely placed under clear glass plates at the dining table.

Don’t you just love a glam chandelier? In my opinion, there is not much that makes as beautiful a statement in a space. And you can find one that complements just about any decor. Tops on my wish list lately are chic, contemporary drum shades that spill out waterfalls of crystals, like Zia Priven’s tasty creations.

So, our handmade ornament today is a mini chandelier, with a stream of crystal beads wrapped by a spunky, satiny drum shade. And did I mention that the base for the ornament is a recycled cardboard TP tube?

Materials and Tools:

Cardboard TP tubes

Satin ribbon in your color scheme –
one-half inch to one inch wide.

Scissors

Tacky craft glue

Brush to apply glue

Scotch tape

Crystal-look beads

Needle and thread

Instructions:1. Measure and mark the cardboard tube, and cut it to one and one-half inches long.

2. Cut a piece of ribbon about eight feet long. Put a spot of glue on the end of the ribbon and press it to the inside of the tube. Clamp it down with a piece of scotch tape (this will be covered up by the wrapped ribbon). Start to wrap the ribbon around the tube, holding it taught, but not tight. Double wrap the ribbon around to anchor it at the start.

3.Wrap the tube in ribbon, with each round covering about one-half of the previous wrap. Continue all the way around, until the tube is covered.

4. Cut the ribbon so that the end will fall in the middle of the inside of the tube Glue down the ribbon end, and temporarily clamp the end with a piece of tape.

3. Thread your sewing needle, double the thread and knot it. Sew a thread “lampshade spider.” This will support the crystal bead drop, and will give you a place to attach your ornament hanger.

Carefully anchor the thread on the inside top edge of one side of your ribbon tube. Bring the thread across the center of the tube and secure the thread in the inside top edge, on opposite side of the tube. Pull the thread taught (not so tight that it misshapes your tube); knot and cut the end of the thread. Repeat, and run another thread perpendicular to the first. Your two threads will cross in the center of the top of the tube (see photos).

4.Make three strands of crystal-look beads. To stagger the length, I made a strand each of five, six and seven beads. Tie off the thread just above the beads and cut the excess thread to about five inches long.

5.Tie the three beaded strands together in a loop knot, and tighten the knot about 1/4″ -1/2″ above the beads. Now this beaded drop is ready to tie onto your lampshade.

6. Separate into two, the excess threads at the top of the beaded drop. Now thread these up from the bottom of your shade, around opposite corners of the center “cross” in the thread spider. Tie securely. Loop the thread ends back under the spider and bring them up at the remaining opposite corners of the cross in the spider. Tie securely. Carefully trim the excess thread.

7. You’re brilliant – look what you just made! When the glue is dry, remove the temporary tape piece. Then add some wire or an ornament hook to your sparkly Drum Chandies.

There’s nothing more elegant than a feminine flourish. That’s one of the reasons why damask textiles are a design classic. A great damask can add glamour and graphic impact at the same time. When in doubt – damask.

So for Day #17 of 30 Days of DIY Designer Ornaments we add swirly, damask flourishes to our glass ornament balls. And it seems this year I’m all about metallic, so our motifs are metal-leafed in a trio of gold, silver and copper tones.

2.Cut out each pattern along the ornament ball outline. You can enlarge or reduce your pattern on a copy machine as needed for the size of your ornament balls.

3. Cut a piece of graphite paper as big as your ornament’s face. Using the low-tack tape, Tape it to the face of your ornament.

4.Tape your pattern on top of the graphite paper. You may need to strategically add little folds that don’t disturb the motif, around the edges of the paper. This will help it mold to the ball shape.

5.Trace the pattern with a pencil. This will transfer the damask motif to your ball. Then carefully remove the pattern and graphite paper (save both for re-use).

6. Read the instructions with the metal leaf and adhesive pen. I found the adhesive pen works much better for detailed motifs than brushing on adhesive. Brace your ornament ball by leaving it in its container bottom.

Fill in the entire motif with adhesive. Use plenty of adhesive to cover the design, but not so much that it drips. (A moist paper towel will catch drips.)

7.Leave the adhesive to dry according to package directions. I let mine dry for ten minutes.

8.Lay a sheet of metal leaf onto your design. Then quickly brush over it with your soft paint brush, to adhere the sheet. My metal leaf kit came with a backing paper for easier application. Now I peeled back the backing paper.

9. Using circular motions with your soft paint brush, burnish your metal leaf. This will add shine to the metal. The circular motions all over the metal area will also remove any loose flakes of metal around the edges of your design, and will reveal your design.

Note: Don’t look for razor-sharp edges with this technique. Instead they are a little ragged that I found added an aged look to the flourish.

10. Voila! Repeat steps for your other ornaments. I did one of each motif in gold, silver and copper tones.

All done! Now swoop these glam balls onto your tree, then kick back and enjoy your decor. Thanks for creating with us on Day #17 of 30 Days of DIY Designer Ornaments.

Next time, a little more glam and whimsy….

Help spread the word about HomeWorkshop.com’s30 days of DIY Designer Ornaments!

Put this 125 pixel-wide button on your blog or Web site using the code below.

Time for a treat on Day #16 of 30 Days of DIY Designer Ornaments. Most of our 30 Days’ ornaments are original creations for HomeWorkshop.com. But when I spotted Tresa Edmund’s cozy Christmas confection, I knew I had to share a cup with you.

I love the warmth of the wool felt, the calming color combination, and the funky dollop of whipped cream. And especially how the mug handle becomes the ornament hook.